Archived: Helios Medical Centre

Updated 27 August 2015

Helios Medical Practice is located in a suburban area of Bristol. They have approximately 3384 patients registered, the majority of whom are of a White British ethnicity.

The practice operates from one location:

Helios Medical Practice

17 Stoke Hill

Bristol

Avon

BS9 1JN

It is sited in a two storey building which is fully accessible. The consulting and treatment rooms for the practice are situated on the ground floor. There is limited patient parking immediately outside of the practice with spaces reserved for those with disabilities. The practice offers a full range of GP services and access to GPs who are trained in complementary approaches such as homeopathy and anthroposophical medicine (a complementary medicine whose approach is seeing illness as connected to the patient’s physical and mental well-being and treating patients accordingly).

The practice registered with CQC as having two GPs as partners. The practice business manager was employed recently and will be making application to become the third partner. There are also three salaried doctors,. The GPs provide 21 clinical sessions per week, working alongside qualified nurses and health care assistants. The practice has a general medical service contract and also has some additional enhanced services such as unplanned admission avoidance. The practice is open on Monday 8am – 7pm, Tuesday and Friday 8am – 6.30pm, Wednesday 7.30am – 5pm and Thursday 7.30am – 6.30pm for on the day urgent and pre-booked routine GP and nurse appointments.

The practice has a GP who has achieved accreditation as a practice for doctors who are training to be qualified as GPs and will be starting to take student GPs from October 2015. The practice currently hosts 1st year and 3rd year medical student placements.

The practice does not provide out of hour’s services to its patients, this is provided by BrisDoc. Contact information for this service is available in the practice and on the website.

Patient Age Distribution

0-4 years old: 6.41% -- higher than the national England average

5-14 years old: 13.59% - - higher than the national England average

15-44 years old: 39.14% - - higher than the national England average

45-64 years old: 29.13% -- higher than the national England average

65-74 years old: 7.21%

75-84 years old: 3.28%

85+ years old: 1.24%

Information from NHS England indicates the practice is in an area of low deprivation with a lower than national average number of patients with long standing health conditions, a higher than average number of patients in nursing homes and high levels of employment. The patient gender distribution was male 47.4% and female 52.6%.

Updated 27 August 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Helios Medical Practice on 9 July 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, effective, responsive and well led services and outstanding for providing caring services. It was also rated as good for providing services for all of the population groups.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers to share best practice.
• The practice had a Patient Participation Group (PPG) which they had chosen to call a Patient Partnership Group as they worked in partnership with the practice. The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients and from the PPG.

• The practice facilities were designed and equipped to meet patients’ treatment needs.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had consulted with patients who stated their preference for longer appointment times and this was implemented so each GP appointment is a minimum of 15 minutes.
• The practice had a holistic approach to care and encompassed complementary treatments which accommodated those patients whose religious beliefs excluded some aspects of conventional medicine and was known within this religious community to be non- judgmental about medical choices made.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 27 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. GPs and nursing staff had lead roles in chronic disease management. Patients diagnosed with long term conditions were supported through a range of clinics held for specific conditions such as, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure. Weekly nurse led clinics were available to patients diagnosed with long term conditions. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All of these patients had a structured annual review to check their health and medicines needs were being met. Patients receiving palliative care, those with cancer diagnosis and patients likely to require unplanned admissions to hospital were added to the Out of Hours system to share information, patient choices and decisions with other service providers.

Updated 27 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people. There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. There was joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses. The practice worked to provide inclusive services for younger patients, such as being part of the 4YP initiative which means the services on offer are young people friendly and confidential.

Updated 27 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were good for conditions commonly found in older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example, emergency admission avoidance. Patients over 75 had a named GP. We found integrated working arrangements with community teams. The practice worked closely with carers and one staff member acted as the carer’s champion.

Updated 27 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students). The needs of the working age population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care. The practice was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflects the needs for this age group. The practice offered good access to GPs for telephone consultations. The practice hosted complementary therapists, such as art therapy, to promote good health.

Updated 27 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people living with dementia). The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those living with dementia. Patients could access mental health support services at the practice as they hosted counselling services. The practice also told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people living with dementia). The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those living with dementia. Patients could access mental health support services at the practice as they hosted counselling services. The practice also told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.

Updated 27 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. They held a register of vulnerable patients such as those with a learning disability. The practice provided support to a residential school for patients with learning disabilities. The practice had a lead GP to support these patients and provide continuity of care. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable patients. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children and had attended training regarding domestic abuse. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out of hours.